Chapter 51
SOMEONE called Yuki’s name and shook her shoulders. Exhausted to the bone, she yearned for more sleep. Freezing, lethargic, and desperate for sleep she tugged away from whoever was trying to force her back to the waking world.
“Nngh…” Her eyes flicked open with a desire to curse at whoever wouldn’t let her sleep. Rhad’s face was right next to hers. “…?!”
“Thank goodness,” Rhad sighed with relief when she scooted away from him.
Yuki blinked twice trying to figure out what happened. Rhad held her shoulders to keep her sitting upright. Memories of healing the queen and instantly losing consciousness came back to her.
“That’s right, the queen…” She reached for the bedside to pull herself up, when a familiar hand wrapped around her waist and helped her. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The queen was fast asleep in bed. The two doctors stared at the queen from the foot of the bed.
“Did it…work?”
Yuki took two steps toward the queen and peered at her face. Cautiously, she rubbed her cheek. Just like the time with Chiruka, the reddish-brown scabs peeled off, revealing smooth skin beneath.
Thank goodness… She sighed. The queen’s breathing stabilized as her abdomen moved systematically.
“She is fine now.”
“What in the blue blazes did you—” The doctors stared at Yuki in fear and awe. Their gaze was a mirror image of the ones she received from the people who eventually treated her like a monster.
“Rhad.” With one hand still on the bed to support her weight, she held out her other hand to him. Getting her message, Rhad took her hand and picked her up.
“The medical treatment has finished. I apologize, but her health is not in the best condition. We must leave now.”
“I-If you say so…”
Knowing she didn’t have to support her weight any longer, the energy drained from her and she collapsed against Rhad’s chest. A servant opened the door for them.
“…Good job,” Rhad said quietly to her once the doors shut behind them.
“The job isn’t finished yet. Luca comes next. Please—hurry.”
Speaking took every last bit of energy she could muster. The pressure crushing down on her chilled and weary body threatened to send her consciousness into the folds of darkness.
“Please…hurry.”
It didn’t take a doctor for her to know the next time she lost consciousness she would never wake again. She was freezing. Feeling had left her frozen fingertips and toes. Dryness zapped her mouth of saliva and her breathing came out in shallow wheezes.
“Please,” she said hoarsely. The utterance came out as more of a moan.
“…! Prepare to bounce around.”
Rhad ran down the hallway. Without the energy to hold her head up, it bounced against his chest. Ten seconds after he took off running he abruptly skidded to a stop.
“This must be a bloody joke!” shouted an enraged, familiar voice stepping out from a pool of shadows clinging to the wall as if they were a simple door.
Yuki summoned the energy to turn her head and wrenched her eyes open. In the center of the hallway stood—the Rose Witch.
“…Vivi?”
“Is she someone you know, Lady Yuki?”
“I am asking what the hell did you DO?!”
“…What did I do?”
“You healed that wretched woman’s Ten Day Fever. You seriously need to stop ruining other people’s fun. I was having the time of my life watching that bitch die a slow agonizing death too.”
“What did you do to the queen—”
“Keep quiet, would you?” Vivi snapped her fingers. Rhad froze in place. “Hey, Yuki? Do you understand what you have done?”
Yuki nodded firmly. Vivi dragged out an exaggerated sigh. “…I take my eyes off you for a short while and you go and forget your goals?”
“I haven’t forgotten! I’m going to Luca right now,” she shouted, rousing another round of dizziness. The hall swayed. She couldn’t glare at Vivi in defiance when her eyes wouldn’t focus.
“…Heh? Your power manifested? Maybe it got confused by your current appearance. Stupid power. It looks like it doesn’t suit your body. Of course it wouldn’t. Your actual body has always been a scarred little girl,” Vivi cackled.
“…Please…put Rhad back to normal.” Speaking to Vivi took too much energy.
“You kept using your power despite it not reacting well with you? What a foolish girl letting yourself deteriorate so far… You’re going to die, you know?”
“Fine with me. I did this because I wanted to.”
“Hmm? Is that so? Ever the goody-goody. Your admirable confession makes me want to vomit,” she flatly declared. “You steal away my good fun and ask a favor of me? You must be dreaming to think I’d do what you ask.”
Vivi’s violet eyes pierced through Yuki. She felt her all-knowing gaze, but couldn’t tell what expression she had. White blotted out most of what she saw.
“But…I know. I don’t mind overlooking it this once.”
“You will?”
“You’re headed to the sacrificial prince, yes?”
Sacrificial prince?
“Never in my years of living would I have guessed that thing was your Knight. I even went as far as saving your Knight—you are an awfully ungrateful child…. Well, what’s done is done. Anyhow, I’ll wait for you where that prince is. Hurry and join us.”
Soft footsteps approached Yuki. Something ice-cold caressed both her cheeks—Vivi’s hands encompassed her face. With how close she came, Yuki finally saw her face through the white.
“That is—if you can even make it there.” Vivi’s face twisted with sick amusement.
“Why can’t I?”
“You destroyed my entertainment. You’d better become an even better show to amuse me.”
SNAP! With a rush of sound everything was dyed red. Experience told Yuki she was encompassed by red rose petals.
✦ ✦ ✦
YUKI had so many questions she wanted to ask. Why was Vivi in Adolunde? What was she doing with the queen? Why was she watching the queen die? Was the cackling in her head all this time Vivi’s voice? Why was Luca a sacrificial prince?
She couldn’t ask a single one of those questions. Because the next time she opened her eyes she was lying on a patch of grass surrounded by the smell of greenery.
“…Nn…gh?”
Unsure of what just occurred, she pushed off the ground. How long had she been unconscious? Some of the weight had lifted from her body. The dizziness had mostly abated. The white spots more or less cleared from her eyes. The sun’s gentle warmth rained down on her.
“Where…am I?” She staggered to her feet. The healthiness she felt was a momentary illusion as her legs buckled and she collapsed on the grass.
…Ow. She lacked the energy to even say ow aloud. Using both her hands to keep from falling a second time, she slowly pulled herself to her feet.
“….te…me...”
Amid the rustling trees and wind, water dripped somewhere—and someone was talking.
Someone’s here!
Someone murmured quietly in the distance. Yuki yelled at her wobbly legs to walk in the direction of the voice.
Where am I? How much time has passed?
She couldn’t see or walk straight. Tottering along barely got her anywhere. Irritated, she bent forward and put her hands on her knees to take a breath. A few feet’s distance felt like miles to her.
“…Tell me, Tiffa.”
“Gah!”
Yuki tripped over a root and stumbled forward. She caught her balance, but her legs tangled and she failed to brace her step.
“Who goes there?!”
“Whoa!”
By the time her mind told her she was going to fall, it was too late—her cheek slammed against the ground, her arms too weak to hold her.
“…This area is off-limits to anyone but the royal family. What business makes you so daring to enter this sacred space?”
I’ve been noticed. Well, I was trying to catch their attention, but not in this way. Anyway, this place is off-limits to anyone but royalty? Um, uh, what should I say?
Shame over falling in front of someone turned her cheeks bright-red. She rushed to push herself off the ground. Who she saw with her in this off-limits area froze her in place.
Orga…
The prince of her nightmares stood in front of a spring Yuki was all too familiar with.